the caged bird,
couldn’t breathe,
for it gasped and choked,
while trodden beneath,
its air snatched,
by soulless souls.

the caged bird,
tried to sing, with a fearful trill,
but couldn’t hear its melancholic tune,
heard on the distant hill,
for it was deafened,
by its own cries.

the caged bird,
tried to dream,
beginning of an equal dawn,
of a righteous stream,
a dream shattered,
by melanin bereft arms.